Two Little Monkeys Chocolate — Attraction in Peñas Blancas

We went on the 10:00 A.M chocolate tour, and it was the best. Thing. EVER!!!!! At the start, the guide talked about the parts of chocolate and cacao and how it was made. They had snacks and water that you could have while he talked, and sometimes he let you pass around some parts of a cacao plant. He also opened up a plant and let everyone eat the pulp off of the beans, which tasted like mango A.K.A amazing! After he finished talking, he ground up a bunch of cocoa nibs into paste and made cocoa butter. He let us taste the cocoa butter (or lather it on our skin), and then we got to the fun part. We made the most delicious hot chocolate ever! We ground up sugar and cocoa nibs 5 times until they were al paste, and then mixed it with milk. We then drank it, and it was probably the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. But THEN, we got to the ultra-super awesome part, where we made our OWN chocolates! They gave you 2 molds (we got turtles and flowers) and then gave you white, milk, and dark chocolate pipings, a bunch of toppings like sprinkles, coffee, and coconut, and some toothpicks. Then they gave you around 30 minutes to fill as many molds as you want, before you finished and let them harden. While they were hardening, we took a walk where we stopped to grind sugarcane into sugarcane juice, which they mixed with lemon and orange juice to create a DELICIOSO drink. They also gave you the option to add rum, which somehow made it even BETTER! Then, you took a tour of the things at the farm, where they showed you some fruit and teached you about them. Then, we went back to the place with the chocolate, where the chocolate had hardened, and it was SO GOOD! I would rate 6 stars if I could.

(Review written by our 11 year old son - we chose this tour because it seemed like a good choice for kids, and it definitely was, but equally fun for adults).

The road that Google sent us down was unpaved, but on the way back it gave a route that was paved all the way. The paved route required a right turn when you leave...

What a lovely experience for our family! This was a true pleasure and learning experience. Ismael has thoughtfully curated this tour on his lovingly cared for farm. During the workshop your group will start by making two kinds of hot Caco drinks--the first similar to traditional native drinks during which you will grind Caco using a stone bowl and pestle. The second is made in the European style --ground with a hand cranked machine and mixed with milk and sugar. Both are delicious! Ismael will share a succinct but detailed history of Coco and its relationship to Costa Rica. After making the hot chocolates we molded chocolate candy and mixed sugar cane and lemon juice. Incredibly tasty! Ismael offers a rum version of the juice for adults. While the chocolate molds cooled Ismael took on us a walk around the family farm. For me, this was a highlight of our trip to Costa Rica. He showed us the fascinating fruit and plants they grow, with the goal of avoiding the grocery store entirely. He also shared some of the ways his family is working to preserve and care for the local environment. Just fascinating! We travelled with our 13 year old nieces--they had an absolutely fabulous time and Ismael was great with the kids---even when they hit a total sugar high. :) If you are looking for a chocolate tour, do this one! It is off the beaten path and the drive to the house was also a lot of fun for us. Two Little Monkeys Chocolate Tour is a great...

My husband booked this chocolate tour and I’m so glad he did! My husband is the choc-oholic, so I was just going for him as I had already gone on the more typical in-town chocolate tours before.This was completely different and the whole experience was so lovely and memorable.

We were given a brief history of chocolate as well as the science behind it. We participated in 3 different ways to make chocolate- the old stone ground way, a manual grinder, and the more modern and widely used machinery method. From there we made hot chocolate in the traditional Native warrior’s way as well as the modernized European way to taste the difference. We also made chocolates in molds using different ingredients we got to take home. While we waited for our chocolate to cool we were given a tour of the absolutely stunning garden with all kinds of plants to taste. We also got to make sugar cane juice which was absolutely delicious.

This was such an intimate tour to where we could really be a part of the experience, the process, and the farm. I appreciated the time the owner spent with us, sharing his knowledge and love of chocolate and his land, as well as explaining his sustainable business philosophy. Very good chocolate, very memorable...